Sun-Herald senior investigative writer

Police examine the helicopter used in the brazen jail escape by John Killick in 1999. Photo: Reuters

After 14 years in jail, one of Sydney's most infamous and violent criminals is on the verge of being released.

There's just one catch: the moment he walks free, detectives will be on hand to arrest and extradite him to Queensland, where he faces at least two more years behind bars.

Convicted armed robber and helicopter escapee John Reginald Killick appeared before a NSW State Parole Authority hearing at Parramatta Court on Friday, having served time for an armed robbery in 1999 in which a police officer was wounded.

Seeking freedom again ... John Killick.

Killick is no stranger to prison, having been locked up for armed hold-ups in 1966, 1972, 1981 and 1985.

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In a desperate plea for freedom on Friday, he argued his life of crime was finally over because he has kicked the chronic gambling addiction that fuelled it.

Most inmates progress to parole with a phased, supervised release into the community.

But Killick has enjoyed no such opportunity, primarily because, in 1999, he pulled off one of the most daring prison breaks in Australian history.

Back then, Killick was in custody after robbing a bank in Bowral and shooting at an off-duty police officer. He pleaded guilty and was being held on remand, awaiting sentence, when his lovestruck girlfriend, Lucy Dudko, hired a $360-an-hour helicopter, then calmly held a sawn-off shotgun to the pilot's throat and declared: "This is a hijack."

Russian born Dudko - or "Red Lucy", as she became known - forced the pilot to land in the exercise yard of Silverwater prison, in Sydney's west.

In a scene reminiscent of the Charles Bronson 1975 film Breakout - which Dudko had hired on video a week earlier - the helicopter swooped in for Killick and then fled through a hail of bullets.

After they landed in a North Ryde park and tied up the pilot, the duo began a new life on the run.

The sensational escape created international headlines. As the days and weeks passed, police were swamped with possible sightings. Finally, after 45 days in each other's arms, the lovestruck pair were caught napping at the Bass Hill Tourist Park and Motel, where they had booked a cabin under the names of Mr and Mrs M.G. Brown.

In court on Friday, Killick argued he had "good grounds" to oppose his extradition to Queensland, which relates to a 1983 armed robbery and subsequent breach of parole.

He went on to claim that at 71 years of age, and having attended several "intensive" anti-gambling courses, the penny had finally dropped about the destruction triggered by his addiction.

"Something died in me," he told the hearing. "I thought, 'look at what gambling's done to you'.

"Maybe it's just the age but the urge has gone."

While Killick revealed he had reconciled with his family, he admitted they had nonetheless put him on notice, should he return to his old ways.

"We had extensive discussions during a family day and they said they would ring up ... and say, 'he's gone off the rails again'.

"But I honestly don't think that's going to happen. I know that if I gamble again, I'll reoffend. This is my last chance."

Killick's parole was opposed on the grounds that it was not in the public's interest to see him released "at this stage".

Representing the Crown, barrister Lester Fernandez pointed out that while Killick claimed to have not gambled since 2007, he had still been actively betting "on anything" inside jail in the seven years before that - and had even confessed to telephoning family to ask them to place bets on his behalf.

Extradition aside, he said the appropriate way forward would be to refuse parole and instigate a "gradual release back into the community" that could provide "strong evidence as to what Mr Killick's actual resolve might be".